William Walker Atkinson wrote:

“Man should realize that he is what he thinks. He should know that he is building up his mind, unconsciously it is true, by the character of the thoughts he is thinking.

If he is thinking bright, cheerful, happy, confident and courageous thoughts, he is building up a mentality colored with these thoughts.

And equally true is it that if he is thinking thoughts of fear, worry, gloom and despair, his mentality will take on that color, and all his actions will be influenced by the prevailing shade of his mental attitude.

If you wish to be Energetic and Active, think as many energetic and active thoughts as you can and endeavor to act them out.

Let your thoughts be constantly upon these subjects and endeavor to manifest the thought in action as much as possible.

By following this course you will gradually make yourself over, so far as those habits are concerned, and the new way will be the natural way, and the old discarded habits will seem very unreal to you.

One can train his mind in any direction desired, or considered needful.

The subconscious mentality may be trained just as one would train a child or pet animal. It may be moulded and shaped according to the will.

It requires perseverance, of course, but it is an important thing to accomplish.”

When Atkinson writes about the thoughts you have, but you need to consider it’s not only about the thoughts. It’s the thoughts and their respective energy.

You could be thinking cheerful thoughts but with a very anxious energy behind them.

I’m sure you have done this when preparing for some nerve-wrecking situation. You try to “think positive”, think “good thoughts”, yet, you still felt nervous and anxious.

Sure, it’s better than nothing, but it won’t be very useful.

The inner voice AND the energy behind it is the true secret.